The Evaluation of Research By Scientometric Indicators

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Introduction

The essential aim of science is to produce and communicate scientific knowledge. As Merton stated:

‘… for science to be advanced, it is not enough that fruitful ideas be originated or new experiments developed or new problems formulated or new methods instituted. The innovations must be effectively communicated to others. That, after all, is what we mean by a contribution to science – something given to the common fund of knowledge. In the end, then, science is a socially shared and socially validated body of knowledge. For the development of science, only work that is effectively perceived and utilized by other scientists, then and there, matters.’

Scientific research is an information-producing activity (Nalimov and Mulchenko, ...